Hisoka deserves more love. I effing adore him :3

Anyway, my first shot at a story on here. Enjoy!

Disclaimer : I DO NOT OWN HUNTER X HUNTER.

It was painfully bright in the back streets of the sprawling city that surrounded the Celestial Tower. Then again, it was mid-July, smack in the middle of the tourist season. As usual, there was an undertone of clamoring as people traipsed by, stopping once or twice to glance over a sidewalk vendor's various items before moving on.

A lone, thin figure sat in the shade, a tattered hood pulled up over her dark black hair. Piercing green eyes darted from side to side, watching every person that passed with a hawk-like intensity. Rich here; poor there. A finger idly drew circles on the ground. Her lips curved into a small smile as she saw a little girl bump into a taller lady, then quickly extracting herself and bowing in apology before running off. The lady didn't even notice the pearl bracelet that was now clutched tightly in the girl's hands.

This was the backstreets of the city. A place where the rich met the poor, and all kinds of people mingled together. Kaede watched the little girl run away into the distance, and then resumed watching the people around her. A man pushing a cart yelled across the alley to gather more people to look at his trinkets; an old lady sat quietly and allowed visitors to finger the assortment of beads she had displayed before her. A-

A set of purple clown-shoes blocked her vision, and Kaede looked up, angrily about to ask the man to move. Piercing green eyes caught reddish-gold ones, and Kaede froze, all words escaping her mouth to trail off into nothingness.

He was scary. Demeaning eyes, slitted like a fox and utterly cold. Here was a manipulative liar, a person that trusted no one and tricked everyone. Anxious to escape his gaze, she allowed herself to glance instead at his clothes. What was he doing? Was he a customer...?

He wore clothes that were not of the backstreets. They were much richer, clean and not as worn. Instinctively, Kaede knew that he must be a fighter from the Celestial Tower that rose high in the sky, visible from even the outskirts of the city around the Heaven's Arena. On a second glance-over, she straightened slightly. If he had nice clothes, he had money. But that didn't stop her from smiling slightly at his appearance. He looked like a clown! Even his face was adorned like one, with a purple star on one cheek and a green teardrop on the other. The moment her eyes glanced into his reddish-gold ones once more, though, her laughter was cut short.

Dangerous.

Her thoughts must have transferred onto her face, because the man squatted down, the hint of a smile appearing on his pale white face.

"Pardon me, mademoiselle, but are you a fortune-teller?"

Kaede stiffened, her eyebrows creasing into a momentary frown, but forced herself to nod coolly. Celestial Tower people; they were always slightly different. There was no doubt in her mind about how dangerous this man was. "...How did you know?" Her voice was testy, cautious. You did not mess with someone from the Celestial Tower; not unless you were insane or suicidal.

The man only smiled further, but it was a cold smile. "Call it a hunch."

Kaede allowed herself to relax, even if it was only a little bit. His murderous energy wasn't directed towards her. But if he has money... "Would you like me to read your fate?"

The man considered. "It would be interesting," he admitted, before sitting down before her. "How much?"

Kaede barked a harsh laugh, before gesturing for him to extend a hand. "Does it really matter? You have the money, don't you?"

Something about the air turned lighter, amused. "I do, in fact, so I thought I'd entertain myself today. Besides, I've always been interested in fortune telling."

Fortune telling? But that is only a disguise.

A small smile graced her lips, and Kaede slowly removed her hood, revealing a thin, gaunt face, framed by black hair cropped short and close to her chin. How long had it been since she'd had food? Today was her lucky day, it seemed.

"The left hand shows your connections to others," she said, her chin tilting upwards slightly as she looked him directly in the eyes. Now that he was a customer, he did not seem so scary. "The right hand shows your future." A thin, bony hand reached out to take the man's offered hand. His right hand.

"I will start with your future."

Kaede controlled the odd tremor that went through her as she took his hand. His hand was cold as ice, and for a second, she was terrified: what kind of future would this man have? Again, he was from the Celestial Tower. Rumors had that those who came from the tower were monsters, especially the ones at the 200th level.

As if sensing her hesitation, the magician shifted lightly. "Are you going to read my palm?"

His words brought her back to reality. Kaede nodded absentmindedly. "Something like that...but not really." Slowly, she concentrated on his hand, waiting patiently for the threads to appear. They always did after a while, wrapped tightly around the fingers, wound around the palms. Strings of Fate, she liked to call them. It made it sound more like fortune-telling, even though it was more of an interpretation of strings than anything else.

Because it had always been like that, hadn't it? Years were but a blur for Kaede, and if there was a time where she could not see strings on the hands of others, she did not remember it.

Her breath hitched, and Kaede was dimly aware that the magician had stopped moving, and was now watching her curiously. But that didn't matter much, as the strings on his hand grew clearer and clearer.Black...blue...silver...red. Yellow?

To the normal passerby, they would only see a thin, starving girl reading a man's palm. But what occurred between the two was something else; a moment as the girl transformed the fate she read into a chilling foretelling. Her voice, no longer raspy and hoarse, now rang clear with conviction. The man with flaming red hair could only remain kneeling as he watched the girl with an unnatural attentiveness.

"The blue thread. A meeting with the unexpected." She began slowly, eyes tracing the threads that wound around his fingers like a colorful tapestry. "A summoning in September; silver. Black and red, intertwined...a spider, waiting to strike." Her eyes searched closer, a look of discomfort crossing her face. "How odd...black and yellow are twisted into an interlocking spiral. Pain and joy, tangled together, refusing to separate...? You are an odd man."

"People have said that, yes." The man smile was slightly forced as he abruptly took away his right hand, even though Kaede was not finished. Her eyes narrowed questioningly. Was there something in this person's future he did not want her to see? She shrugged it off. In the end, she was getting money. That was all that mattered, yes? Kaede huffed silently, feeling the sharp pang of hunger in her stomach. Hunger was something she had to ignore, though. Customers did not want to know that the one reading their future was a mere starving girl. Due of that, Kaede had long since perfected the art of hiding any discomfort she felt, instead keeping a cold, professional look surrounding her at all times.

"Now then, your relationships with others." She said briskly, deciding to continue on with the reading. She took his left hand this time, noting again the unnatural coldness. Her sharp green eyes did not pass over the slight hesitation that washed over the man as he gave her his left hand, either. So he is nervous. She thought triumphantly, before focusing once more on his hand.

They snaked around his palms, trailed off from his fingers. And every single one of them...every single one...?

Every one of them was black. Fingers tightened in a death-lock around his hand, her free hand tightening and gouging a set of lines in the dirt. Actually, now that she looked closer, there were hints of color that stood out sharply from the black. And yet, the number of those threads were so few compared to black threads, it was almost sickening. Each and every black thread was snipped off cleanly, where it had already started to unravel. Ended forever.

For a moment, Kaede didn't know how to react. Impossible, right? This man couldn't be so dangerous. No one could be walking around so normally, not jailed up. Not if they had...She swallowed uneasily...murdered so many people.

His hand is ice cold.

She'd never seen anyone with so many black threads. And perhaps, more unsettling, was the dark red tints that shocked from several of the black threads. This man had been challenged to a fight to the death, many, many times, and he'd won every single battle he had fought. Sharp green eyes darted up to glare at the magician with an expression that was half shock and half-hatred.

The man glanced at his trapped hand, expression one of pleasant concern. "Is there something wrong, mademoiselle?"

Wrong? Don't make me laugh. You are a monster.

He was a monster.

She exhaled softly, her breath shuddering slightly, trying to ease the tension in her shoulders. "What is your name?" Kaede asked slowly, trying to mask the slight tremor in her voice.

"Mm? Did you see something?" The magician tried to withdraw his hand, but Kaede gripped it tighter, refusing to let go.

"Name," she internally winced at the waver in her own voice. Do not show fear.

He considered her bony, hand, clutching at his own, refusing to let go. "Hisoka," he replied after a pause, a hint of irritation coloring his cold voice.

"Hisoka," Kaede murmured the name to herself, her knuckles turning white as she continued to grip his hand tighter and tighter, "Hisoka. Your hand is covered with black strings, and all of them are cut." Her tone was frigid. Cold as ice, showing nothing but hostility. "Black on the left hand means murder; a cut string signifies death. How many people have you killed...? An unmentionable number, surely. And yet..." Her voice shook slightly. "And yet, there is no gray string of regret." Her piercing green eyes traveled up to stare at him, narrowed. "What kind of monster are you?"

There was a sharp crack as Hisoka wrenched his hand away, out of Kaede's grasp. Her hand recoiled from the force, slamming painfully into the wall behind her. Kaede's eyes widened, and quickly, she backed further into the wall, cowering as a sudden wave of cold bloodlust washed over her. Her hand throbbed from the impact with the wall. Curious passerbys glanced briefly in their direction before continuing with their business.

But then the oppressive atmosphere was gone, and Hisoka smiled. Her blood turned cold, as if someone had doused her with ice water. How did his smile look so demonic? Instantly, Kaede regretted saying anything about the threads on his hands at all.

"I admit, that was an excellent reading, mademoiselle. Much more accurate than most."

"My strings are never wrong." She replied with conviction, the muscles in her throat constricting. A bead of sweat ran down her back of her neck as she remained in her guarded stance, eyes watching for movement. If he tried to attack...

"Indeed. And you've been able to see them since you were born?"

Kaede was momentarily confused. "Yes?" How else was she supposed to have learned? It was just something that she'd grown an affinity for over the years. A sudden movement interrupted her thoughts, and Kaede tensed again, ready to run.

A soft thump, and a bundle of money landed at her feet. Kaede flinched visibly, as if expecting a blow instead. She quickly snatched it up, but her eyes did not stray from Hisoka.

"Thank you," he said, already standing up. "I suppose that is sufficient payment~?" He turned to leave.

Kaede's hand shot out to grab to back of his pants, stopping him in his tracks. Her arm was trembling.

"There are no blue strings of friendship." She said, everything coming out in a rush. "And no yellow strings of family. But there are three green strands of rivalry; one tangled with the black thread of death." She hesitated, her gaze flicking to her own hand briefly. "Two white threads for the people that you are destined to meet again...and one red thread of love knotted to the white, although it simply dangles to the ground, unattached and free-hanging. Your life is not colorless, Hisoka."

As fast as it had shot out, her hand released the back of his pants, and Kaede resumed her original position, leaned against the wall. Her green eyes did not dart around like they normally did. Instead, they were steady, staring straight ahead. The muscles in her neck were tense.

What was I thinking? I should not have stopped him. Kaede swallowed, pursing her lips. This is the first time I have felt such a sudden urge to tell a customer his true reading...

A small smile appeared on Hisoka's face, and he turned away once more. This time, Kaede did not stop him.

"Thank you, Mademoiselle."

But she remained motionless, gaze fixed at the wall ahead of her.

.

It was only after Kaede was sure that Hisoka was walking away did she risk glancing at her own hand. As usual, it was bare. Clean; devoid of any strings marking her connection to others. Except for a single thread that solidified even as she sat there, watching it wrap around her pinky finger tightly.

A single white thread, connecting her to the one she was destined to meet again, trailing off into the distance. Her hawk-like gaze turned to follow it, all the way down the crooked cobblestone path, where the tall figure of Hisoka slowly disappeared from sight.

Review! Favorite! :D

with much love,

-Colorii